Acts of Violet(44)

CAMERON FRANK: Right, but if Violet was a perfectionist, technically those incidents wouldn’t be mistakes. They would’ve been planned.

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: Come on, as if we practiced stabbing and crushing our assistants. The whole point of so many rehearsals was to make sure things like that didn’t happen because some of those tricks were seriously dangerous.

CAMERON FRANK: There were quite a few mishaps on Ultra-Violet before the night Dominic Puglisi was killed. One assistant broke his foot after a harness malfunctioned. Another had his fingers crushed by a heavy crate. A third got impaled by a dagger—actually, the knife-throw routine went badly twice, right? Once where the assistant was stabbed through his palm, the other time his shoulder. Can you talk about what went wrong during those performances?

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: Like I said, these things happen.

CAMERON FRANK [STUDIO]: Since Benjamin remained reticent on the subject, citing the unusually robust NDA Violet required, here’s a quick rundown of what happened with Dominic Puglisi.

The effect—called Heart-Shaped Box in Violet’s show, but typically called the Sword Basket Illusion—is one you’re probably familiar with. A basket or box barely large enough to fit a person is brought out, someone climbs inside, the basket or box is closed and is then impaled with a number of swords. Sometimes the magician is the one inside dodging swords, other times the magician is the one outside wielding them. In Volk’s version, the box was shaped like an anatomical heart—a heart-shaped box, get it?—and it was minuscule, seemingly the size of a microwave. It was hard to believe the assistant could contort his entire body into such a container. Instead of swords, Volk used these vicious-looking razor-sharp barbed arrows. The total effect, of a man trapped inside an impaled heart, which would then pump out fake blood, was stunning.

Here’s the way it works: the box has a false bottom and is placed on a hollow stand, which provides the assistant with extra room to maneuver. That night, the hatch to the false bottom got stuck, and Puglisi couldn’t position himself in a way to avoid all the arrows. When Violet heard him scream, she immediately stopped the illusion to let him out.

But one of the arrows had sliced across Puglisi’s abdomen so deeply, when he stood, he had to hold his stomach with both hands to keep his intestines from falling out.

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: Here’s what I can say about the whole thing. I only saw Violet cry twice. Once was at her uncle’s funeral. The other time was when she found out Dominic didn’t make it through the surgery.

Ultra-Violet closed for a week, and there was a ton of press, but this wasn’t the kind that helped ticket sales. Somebody died, and Violet was being blamed for it. Unfairly, because there’s no way you can control every aspect of a show, as much as she tried. A few assistants quit before we reopened, but everyone else rallied around Violet. We told her it wasn’t her fault. I still believe that.

CAMERON FRANK: Considering some of the unpleasant things you’ve said about her over the years, I’m surprised you’re coming to her defense.

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: Let’s be clear: I’m defending her work, not her as a person. We’ve reached a point where society refuses to distinguish someone’s creative work from who they are. A lot of great art has been made by shitty people. Is it disappointing when someone you admire turns out to be a scumbag? You bet. But if I don’t keep the work separate, there’s a hell of a lot less of it for me to enjoy. What Violet did was a form of art, and I still respect that, even though she may not have been the best person. She was definitely a crappy wife. And before you ask, it wasn’t just the polyamory, there were a lot of reasons our marriage failed. I’m not gonna bag on a lifestyle choice that works for other people. It wasn’t for me, that’s all.

CAMERON FRANK: When did things between you and Violet really start to sour?

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: If I really think about it … actually, before we got married. It was like … I was the frog, and she was the pot of water getting hotter and hotter, and I didn’t notice until I was being boiled alive.

It’s funny, she did this interview right before we opened in Vegas and was disgusted at the idea of using her bisexuality as a way to get more publicity. But when Violet invited a lingerie model to be our date to some high-profile event, she sure didn’t mind using it as a photo op.

CAMERON FRANK: So she was actually dating this woman? Or were you seeing her together?

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: [clears throat] Look, I’d like to keep the details of my past exploits private. But yeah, it began with her bringing in women we both liked. It was … fun?

CAMERON FRANK: You don’t sound convinced.

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: I’m just, uh … realizing what a hypocrite I am. Because Violet wasn’t the only one who liked the attention. It was awesome, being seen as this ladies’ man. Behind closed doors, it was less awesome. For me, it was kinda awkward. After a while, I kept posing for the photos but didn’t participate in any of the other stuff. I only wanted Violet, so I waited for her to … I don’t know, get other people out of her system, I guess.

CAMERON FRANK: She dated quite a few other men, too, right?

BENJAMIN MARTINEZ: Yeah, but some of that was PR setups. Not all, but some. I won’t name names.

I’ll tell you something, in our industry, it’s not easy to stay monogamous. You’re surrounded by gorgeous people in the best shape of their lives, you work with them day and night … I wasn’t tempted, but that’s me. When she went out with other people, I—I guess I found a way to compartmentalize and not think about it. I tried going on a couple of dates with other women, but … I wasn’t into it.